Skip to content
Register

Game server hosting: why I stopped caring about DDoS protection claims

VPS Hosting by Joy 18 replies 1.6K views
Joy

Member OP

4 #1

I am buy pirst VPS prom Hetzner last year, they say "premium DDoS protection" lah. My ARK server get hit, what they do? Null-route 6 hours xixixi. I am very angry.

Second time I am try Vultr, same story. Third time HostHatch, same same. Very time "protection" means "we drop your IP when packet too big" xixixi.

Now I am run pive servers with zero protection claim, at least honest lah. True mitigation cost more than my pive box combined, peryone know this deep down.

Three outage story:
- Hetzner: 6hr nullroute, no notice
- Vultr: "mitigating" 4hr, actually blackhole
- HostHatch: auto-null 2min, fastest death xixixi

Who else learn this hard way

sagepat

Member

VM hoarder

#2

Actually, the issue is (asymmetric (cost structure)) here. True scrubbing centers run (well (into the thousands monthly)) for (even (modest bandwidth)). What budget hosts deploy is (typically (a basic (Voxility (or similar)) upstream filter)) with (aggressive (auto-null triggers)).

Your null-route times align with (standard (tier-1 (blackhole communities)))).

If you need (actual (clean pipe)), Cloudflare Spectrum runs (roughly ($250/month (base (for (modest (game (traffic))))))) which (as you noted) exceeds (most (budget (VPS (annual (costs))))) or?

hankels

Member

52 VPS and counting

#3

DDoS protection claims I just ignore now. My math:

Better strategy: buy 3 cheap boxes, keep backups, swap DNS when one dies. $12/mo vs $250+ for "protected" single point.

My actual downtime last year: 4hr total across all 52. Cost of "protection" would buy me 200 spare boxes.

seedbox, NAS, tape, and three offsite
JE

Member

#4

@hankels your math is correct but you forget the labor cost of swapping DNS every death is not zero

AL

Member

#5

Cloudflare Spectrum at $250 actually handles game traffic, or just DNS?

GE

Member

#6

Hank's ratio is brutal but fair

SP

Member

#7
sagepat said:
Your null-route times align with (standard (tier-1 (blackhole communities)))).

This is the key phrase. "Blackhole community" = BGP blackhole filtering. Your upstream voluntarily drops your prefix to save their own backbone. Not mitigation, just sacrifice.

I worked with a team that paid for "DDoS protected" hosting in 2019. Same pattern. Attack starts, 30 seconds of "mitigation," then blackhole for 4-24 hours. The SLA never mentions blackhole duration, only "response time."

Read the SLA carefully. "We will begin mitigation within 60 seconds" means nothing if mitigation is "call upstream and ask them to stop blackholing you."

hankels

Member

52 VPS and counting

1 #8
JerryTiger said:
Labor cost of swapping DNS every death is not zero

True, but I automated it. Health check on box A, fail = API call to Cloudflare to flip A record to box B, ~45 seconds. I run 3 ARK servers in rotation, $12/mo total.

My actual labor last year: zero. Script runs, I sleep.

The "protected" alternative at $250/mo still has downtime anyway. Spectrum has had issues. Nothing is 100%.

seedbox, NAS, tape, and three offsite
JO

Member

#9

I am in Madrid and HostHatch has a datacenter here. I tried them for a Valheim server, same auto-null experience as Joy. 90 seconds after attack started, IP dead.

Now I use OVH Game in France. Their protection actually works for small game servers, but it is €40/mo minimum, not €4. Different product entirely.

sagepat

Member

VM hoarder

7 #10
hankels said:
Spectrum has had issues

This is important. Cloudflare Spectrum is not magic. It is TCP/UDP proxying through their edge. Game protocols that need raw UDP or specific port behaviors can break. ARK, Valheim, some Source engine games work. Others do not.

Also: $250 is base price for low bandwidth. Game server with 64 players pushing voice + data can hit overages fast.

Post a reply

You need an account to reply. Log in or register to join the conversation.

Post reply Preview Save draft